The Miami-Dade teachers union is facing the possibility of decertification in the next two years after it failed to collect dues from a sufficient percentage of members, as required by state law.
Under the provisions of Florida Senate Bill 256, which was signed into law this year by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), at least 60% of a public sector union’s members must pay dues; if they don’t, the union could be decertified.
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Earlier this month, the United Teachers of Dade, the teachers union for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, announced that it had failed to meet the 60% threshold and that the process to decertify the union has begun.
“While we have enrolled more than 800 new members, an unprecedented growth in the past five months, we have not achieved the new 60% membership density of members mandated by the onerous anti-worker law, Senate Bill 256,” the union said. “From the strongest position regarding union solidarity and the fight for our collective wellbeing, we are now gathering Showing of Interest cards to be on the PERC Ballot to be certified as the union for education professionals in order to maintain our contract, wages, and benefits.”
The union now has to prove that at least 30% of Miami-Dade teachers support unionization in order to move to a vote on keeping the union alive, in which at least half of the union’s members would have to support continued certification. But even if the union succeeds in reaching that threshold, it may continue to struggle to meet the 60% dues requirement, meaning the prospect of decertification could become an annual occurrence.
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In addition to SB 256, the DeSantis administration in Florida has passed a number of laws targeting public sector unions. The governor has also signed legislation barring unions from automatically collecting dues from member paychecks, a policy change that is credited with making it more difficult for unions to collect dues and thus meet the 60% membership dues requirement.
Teachers now have to sign up to pay dues voluntarily when they join a union, rather than having the union take dues out of their wages by default.
The United Teachers of Dade has a unique history with the governor. The union’s president, Karla Hernandez-Mats, was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 2022, joining the ticket led by Charlie Crist. DeSantis and his running mate, Jeanette Nunez, defeated Crist and Hernandez-Mats in a 19-point landslide victory that saw Miami-Dade County vote for the Republican ticket for the first time in 20 years.
